A membrane contactor may be used for many purposes, including but not limited to, removing entrained gases from liquids, debubbling liquids, filtering liquids, and adding a gas to a liquid. Membrane contactors may be used in many different applications, for example, a membrane contactor may be used in removing entrained gases from inks used in printing.
Current designs for membrane contactors include hollow fiber mats embedded in an annular ring of potting material where the ends of the hollow fiber members are open. These embedded mats are then inserted into a housing substantially perpendicular to the major axis of the housing to form the device. The current designs are effective but have many problems.
The designs are costly to make because they require the use of a casting mold. Because the ends of the hollow fiber members have to be opened for the device to function, the casting mold requires an extra step to keep these ends open. This requires the mold to be broken away so that the ends of the fibers are exposed. This step can be done by machining away the mold. This is a costly process because it is labor intensive and time consuming. This step of breaking away the casting mold also requires the devices to be larger than desired. The larger size of the device raises the price of the materials and prevents the devices from fitting in smaller spaces. Another problem with the current design is that the strength of the device is dependent primarily on the potting material wall itself.
Accordingly, there is a need for a membrane contactor and a method of its manufacture that addresses all of these problems.